Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition
Social aspects of birding have been rarely studied and birders are not a homogenous group. Different subcultures have been identified and addressed by the concepts of ‘birding specialization’ and ‘birding motivations’. We investigated social aspects of birding in combination with demographic variabl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266662272200017X |
| _version_ | 1818468439107305472 |
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| author | Christoph Randler Nadine Großmann |
| author_facet | Christoph Randler Nadine Großmann |
| author_sort | Christoph Randler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social aspects of birding have been rarely studied and birders are not a homogenous group. Different subcultures have been identified and addressed by the concepts of ‘birding specialization’ and ‘birding motivations’. We investigated social aspects of birding in combination with demographic variables and a special focus on a Big Day (aka birdathon). A Big Day is a competitive event where teams compete for the highest day total of species seen within 24 h. In our study, we compared participants of a regular Big Day in Germany with a group of non-participants drawn from the same survey sample. One hundred and seventy-eight of the investigated 577 respondents have participated in the event. Participants were significantly younger than other respondents. Gender (about 28% women) showed no significant relationship with the participation in a Big Day. Age, specialization (skill/knowledge), and motivations (social and reputation) predicted participation. Unexpectedly, achievement and competition motivation had no significant impact on the participation in a Big Day. Moreover, we found that Big Day participants more often volunteered in monitoring programs and in data collection for citizen science projects. Against the expectations, participants of a Big Day are not mainly an achievement/competition-oriented group, they rather seem to be interested in social relations. Thus, Big Days should be considered as a valuable tool to engage people in citizen science and raise awareness for nature, rather than neglecting them as a simple sports event for twitchers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T21:12:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6eae1c96ecd74bb0a3e29973ba899452 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-6227 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T21:12:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-6eae1c96ecd74bb0a3e29973ba8994522022-12-22T02:29:47ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Ecological and Social Psychology2666-62272022-01-013100050Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competitionChristoph Randler0Nadine Großmann1Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Department of Biology, Auf der Morgenstelle 24, d-72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Corresponding author.Bielefeld University, Department for Didactics of Biology, Universitätsstr. 25, d-33615 Bielefeld, GermanySocial aspects of birding have been rarely studied and birders are not a homogenous group. Different subcultures have been identified and addressed by the concepts of ‘birding specialization’ and ‘birding motivations’. We investigated social aspects of birding in combination with demographic variables and a special focus on a Big Day (aka birdathon). A Big Day is a competitive event where teams compete for the highest day total of species seen within 24 h. In our study, we compared participants of a regular Big Day in Germany with a group of non-participants drawn from the same survey sample. One hundred and seventy-eight of the investigated 577 respondents have participated in the event. Participants were significantly younger than other respondents. Gender (about 28% women) showed no significant relationship with the participation in a Big Day. Age, specialization (skill/knowledge), and motivations (social and reputation) predicted participation. Unexpectedly, achievement and competition motivation had no significant impact on the participation in a Big Day. Moreover, we found that Big Day participants more often volunteered in monitoring programs and in data collection for citizen science projects. Against the expectations, participants of a Big Day are not mainly an achievement/competition-oriented group, they rather seem to be interested in social relations. Thus, Big Days should be considered as a valuable tool to engage people in citizen science and raise awareness for nature, rather than neglecting them as a simple sports event for twitchers.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266662272200017XBig dayBirdwatchingBirdathonRecreation specializationMotivationsBirding |
| spellingShingle | Christoph Randler Nadine Großmann Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology Big day Birdwatching Birdathon Recreation specialization Motivations Birding |
| title | Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition |
| title_full | Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition |
| title_fullStr | Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition |
| title_short | Birder's characteristics for participation in a big day – social aspects are more important than competition |
| title_sort | birder s characteristics for participation in a big day social aspects are more important than competition |
| topic | Big day Birdwatching Birdathon Recreation specialization Motivations Birding |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266662272200017X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christophrandler birderscharacteristicsforparticipationinabigdaysocialaspectsaremoreimportantthancompetition AT nadinegroßmann birderscharacteristicsforparticipationinabigdaysocialaspectsaremoreimportantthancompetition |